Railroad crossings present a problem both for railroad track designers and highway roadbed designers. The roadbed must be built up to the level of the rails to allow wheeled traffic to flow across the rails. However the railroad car wheels have flanges that project below the surfaces of the rails and thus require an open space below the top surfaces of the rails for safe operation. Construction of crossings with adequate spacing adjacent the railroad rails thus requires gaps along side the rails which are objectionable to highway motorists. Still further, the rails must be accessible for maintenance and repair without seriously interrupting highway vehicle traffic.
To prevent build-up of debris within the spaces adjacent rails in crossings, fillers have been developed to span the gap between the roadway surface and the railroad rails. The fillers serve a two-fold purpose. They help prevent build-up of debris within the spaces, and they provide a relatively smooth surface over which vehicles may move.
In many present installations, railway crossing panels are produced that are placed in the roadway, joining the roadway on opposite sides of the track crossing. Fillers are produced for panels and are attached in different manner during panel formation. In some instances the fillers are cast with the concrete panels. In other instances the fillers are installed after the panels are set along the tracks. In still other instances, the fillers are placed on the panels just before the panels are placed in the crossing.
In instances where the fillers are integrated with the cast panels, difficulty arises when the fillers need to be replaced. The fillers, being integrated with the panels, cannot be replaced without replacing the panels.
In instances where the fillers are placed after setting of the panels, inadequate securing arrangements are provided to assure that the fillers will stay in position. Adhesives have been used as a solution to this problem without much success.
A reasonable solution seems to be mounting of the fillers in a relatively fixed position on panels just before the panels are set in place in the crossings. However prior fillers designed for this type of installation are generally difficult to install and are typically quite expensive.
The present invention provides a solution to the above problems by providing a railway crossing filler and panel in which the filler is inexpensive and that is easily installed on the panel and in which the filler, once placed, will be adequately held in place within the spaces provided adjacent the rails.